It goes without saying hyenas and vultures are undoubtedly coupled with death. And rightfully so as they are found lurking around carcasses awaiting the opportunity to steal whatever they can. Both scavengers play a crucial role in the ecosystem by being the final consumer and returning nutrients back into the ground. But out of these two – who is the best scavengers?

Scavenge /ˈskavɪn(d)ʒ/ (verb): search for and use anything from discarded waste.

Their main diet consists of carrion (decaying flesh) and due to their powerful digestive systems, they are able to digest this putrid food they prevent the spread of diseases in the bushveld. Cleaning up carcasses and recycling every last nutrient.  The stomach acids of both the hyenas and vultures not only digest the decaying meat and shards of bone but also kills off the bacteria and disease preventing them from being harmed. Essentially, strong enough to dissolve diseases such as anthrax, botulism, and cholera (all of which are harmful to other animals).

Often when hyenas and vultures take over a carcass there is a flurry of activity as they frantically try and feed on whatever they can.

Ranger Robyn Morrison recently wrote a blog The Real Circle Of Life: A Quick Note On Nutrient Cycling where she explains how the circle of life and different animals play an important role in the nutrient cycle – which vultures and hyenas are paramount to this process.

Using different tactics in finding potential food both are highly specialized in their senses to find food – and rightfully so as it is how they survive. The eyesight of the vultures is what aids them to find their food as they soar in the skies above while meticulously scanning the ground below. While these birds scan from above, the wandering hyena weaves its way through the landscape often with its nose to the ground or up in the air into the wind trying to navigate its way to a potential food source. Eventually, at times finding both of themselves at the same carcass  – so it begs the question who is the better scavenger?

A hyena on the search for food crosses the path of an inquisitive and slightly hesitant giraffe.

At Londolozi, we get 5 different types of vultures the Lappet-faced Vulture, White-backed Vulture, White-headed Vulture, Hooded Vulture, and on occasion the Cape Vulture. Between these different species, there is a hierarchy that exists as they all hold a niche in being able to co-exist and together effectively making the most of whatever carrion they can find. Guy Brunskill explored this hierarchy of vultures If Vultures Were Kids at a Birthday Party, Which Would You Be? where he explains how they co-exist.

Here a Hooded Vulture (left) and a White-backed Vulture (right) are perched in the same tree as they wait for the opportunity to scavenge on the carcass below.

The large strong bill of the Lappet-faced vulture allows them to slit through the skin of the carcass while some of the smaller vultures will await their arrival as they are unable to get through the thick skin of the animal.

“ I once was in sightings where a pride of lions had moved off a kill to digest their swollen full bellies which allowed the vultures to quickly move in. They struggled at first, all fighting to use the cavity created from the lions and then circling overhead was two Lappet-faced Vultures who soon descended from the skies.

They landed in a flurry of the White-backed Vultures which then all of a sudden halted as these two massive birds strolled towards the carcass. The  White-backed Vulture literally parted to allow the Lappet-faced Vultures access to the kill as they were able to do what they weren’t- tear through the skin of the animal. Once the Lappet-faced Vultures had moved off it meant their was more access points to the internal flesh that remained for them to later feed”

A Lappet-faced Vulture was perched on this dead branch in the early hours of the morning waiting for the temperature to rise so it could glide along the thermals scanning the ground for any potential food. You can see the thick bill of this bird which allows it to rip through the skin of most animals.

While hyenas with given the opportunity they aggressively and furiously devour whatever they can quite literally bite on. They eat incredibly quickly and have strong stomach acids that are able to dissolve bone in their stomachs. Often when hyenas are finished with a kill they are almost no trace of the animal besides the skull or horns which remain. People often assume that hyenas don’t hunt but in actual fact, they can be proficient hunters even using bodies of water to assist them in their chase.

Another reality is that hyenas co-exist with predators as they know that the main food source for them – at the expense of the efforts of the predator. Leopards for instance often lose their kills to hyenas who pick up the distress call or scent of the prey. Sometimes within minutes of a kill hyenas swarm in and without fail overpower and ‘rob’ the leopard of its kill. This is why leopards will try and hoist their kills in a tree to avoid hyenas as they are unable to fight back for their food as it could result in injury and for these solitary animals if they are injured it means that they are unable to hunt and therefore could be fatal.

In some cases like here, there is almost no distinction between vultures and hyenas as they envelop the carcass of a male giraffe that had seemed to have died from natural causes.

The interaction between these two scavengers at a kill is something fascinating to observe through different senses from the shirks and cries of the excited hyena to the hissing deathly squawks of the vultures as they messily entangle themselves and pile on the carcass, while the deathly scent that lingers. As time goes on, predators have moved off and hyenas have eaten all they have it is still the vulture that remains and ensures that they have made the most of every last bit of food.

Vultures on giraffe carcass trying to feed on what they can as all the others predators moved off.

So in conclusion, I think Vultures get my winning vote as technically to scavenge is to make use of something once it has been discarded. Whereas hyenas although, awfully efficient at eating discarded food, are often able to overpower and steal kills from other predators. At times they can hunt for themselves while the patient vulture will await its turn. Vultures are patient and spend time at a carcass as they then perch on trees nearby to digest their food or wait their turn to fly in. They simply wait… until the carcass is left unattended. They eat the small scraps and meticulously clean the remains of the bone while hyenas simply just chew and swallow what they can. Nonetheless, it is a close call, and although both are vital parts of the ecosystem I can’t help but give this one to the Vultures…

Let me know what you think and why… hyena or vulture?